Hi all,
Something I can't figure out myself so any help really appreciated!
someone told me that I sing best in the key of C and I have a tenor range - so my questions are
1) which C chord - there are a few places to play the chord of C on the guitar and also the whole business of a capo so which C do they mean.
2) say it was the open C - what other chords would suit someone who can sing in the key of C - would it be ones next to it - ie B and D or is there some other way of figuring it out?
You can sing a song in ANY key, provided the pitch range of the song fits within your vocal range. Conversely you CAN'T sing a song in C major if its range exceeds your range.
In practice you'll find that you can sing some songs best in C, others in A or E or whatever. It all depends on the note range of any particular song.
If a song has a narrow range, you'll be able to sing it in a range of keys. Some will sound stronger than others. Those are your best keys FOR THAT SONG.
As for a particular chord. It doesn't matter what chord shape you use for singing purposes. They all do the same job in accompanying your voice.
As for the set of chords - well that's already been decided by the songwriter. But if you're singing a song in the key of C, then expect to play F & G quite a lot too. The chords most used in any song depends on the scale that the song is based on as they are the chords built on the first, fourth and fifth scale notes. There's more to it than that of course.
First thing I'd say is that the statement "you sing best in the key of C" is a little shady. For a given melody and a given voice, there's usually an ideal key, but pieces in C can have vastly different melodies, and a different piece in, say, G, could easily have a very similar range. So, don't restrict yourself to C just because someone said you sing best in it.
That said, the chords "in" the key of C are C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, and Bdim. In most popular music, the Bdim is not as common as the others. They way you find out the chords in a given key is you take the scale, in this case the C major scale:
C D E F G A B
For each note in the scale the chord for that note is constructed by adding the scale tones 2 and 4 places after that. For instance, the chord corresponding to D is D, F, A, to make D minor. F, A, C makes F major, etc.
Still, though, if you can sing in the key of C you can sing in plenty of other keys, so don't concentrate on C for that reason alone. Closely related keys to C include G (the 5th degree, or dominant) and Am (the 6th degree, or relative minor). For instance, you might see a song with an Am verse and a C major chorus, or the other way around.
~Sam
thanks this is great.
Just a few clarifications if you don't mind (and me appearing very ignorant!)
a) If a song has a narrow range - how does that relate to the chords - so if we are in C and play F and G in the song is that a narrow or wide range?
b) re chord shapes - isn't a C chord played higher up the fret board higher in the same way middle c is higher than c player lower down the panio?
thanks this is great.
Just a few clarifications if you don't mind (and me appearing very ignorant!)
a) If a song has a narrow range - how does that relate to the chords - so if we are in C and play F and G in the song is that a narrow or wide range?
b) re chord shapes - isn't a C chord played higher up the fret board higher in the same way middle c is higher than c player lower down the panio?
a) The narrow range we're talking about means the pitch range of the melody - it has nothing to with the chords.
b) In general, yes but it also depend on what strings you miss out (=X). A major played on frets X02220 will sound higher than when played on frets 5776XX although 5776XX is further up the fretboard.
But anyway, none of this has anything to do with how you sing the melody. That's fixed by the key and it doesn't matter what shape of chords you play - so long as it's the right chords.
To first approximation the chord shapes don't matter for vocal accompaniment, but sometimes it's nice to voice your chords so a particular aspect of the melody is brought out. For instance, if you have a rising melody going over the chords D A Bm, you might choose to play the D chord in open position, the A as an E shaped barre at the 5th fret, and the Bm as an A minor shaped barre at the 7th fret. That said, you don't have to do this, and it will sound just fine if you play D and A in open position and Bm as a barre at the second fret.
I hope this wasn't confusing, but you are correct that the voicing of a chord has musical meaning. That said, for most chords any voicing will do the job.
~Sam
